Why You Fail At Losing Weight

Huh? I want to lose weight and lose them fast! Who the heck wants to know how to fail at losing weight? I just want to be successful at getting a slender and slim body! I am sure that you have tried to lose weight before and were not being very successful in getting any thinner, right? So don't you think it is about time to know why your weight loss efforts were so disappointing? Well, you are about to get your answers real quickly.

How To Lose Weight Fast Successfully

Now, just think about it. If you know how and why you failed at losing weight, then you will know how to take the correct action to get that sexy and slim body that you have tried so hard to develop right? The reason you have landed on this page is because you want to succeed at losing weight quickly and healthily, but the title screamed just the opposite "How to fail at losing weight". Well, you will need to know what weight loss mistakes people or even you yourself made so that you won't make those same mistakes and fail at losing weight.....again, don't you agree?

Weight Loss Mistakes So here are some common weight loss mistakes you shouldn't make so that you can become thinner quickly and naturally. Let me guess. You have tried to lose weight and was unsuccessful or you may get a little success at the beginning and after a while, all the weight you have lost came right back with a vengeance to haunt you? If my guess is correct, then you may be committing some of the following weight loss mistakes.

Skipping Meals – This is the most common and the most tragic weight loss mistake one can commit. Yes, you may consume less calories which are supposed to make you grow thinner, but what makes you so sure that when hunger hits you, you will not binge and eat more than usual at your next meal?


The next problem with skipping meals is that when you are hungry from missing a meal, your body will go into the famine mode. This is your body's natural survival instinct. It will slow down your metabolism rate, meaning that you will burn less calories in your natural state.



Further more, your body will store fat and burn muscle for energy further slowing down your metabolism and you will also lose your precious muscle tone. These are the reasons why skipping meals is one of the gravest weight loss mistake!

Skipping Breakfast – I take back my words when I said earlier that skipping meals is the most common weight loss mistake although skipping meals is still a terrible mistake for losing weight. The most common weight loss mistake is skipping breakfast. Are you guilty of that? You see, when you wake up in the morning, your body has probably been functioning without food for the last 14 hours or so. When you sleep, your body burns very few calories because only your basic bodily function is working such as breathing and heart beating to keep you alive. Your metabolism takes a nose dive when you sleep and when you have a hearty breakfast, you immediately rev up your metabolic rate to begin the day.

Now, when you skip breakfast, your metabolic rate remains low thus compounding the problems explained in skipping meals earlier, is it any wonder that you are not getting thinner as desired?





Stationary Bike And Treadmill Mistakes – Are you guilty of reading a book or magazine when you are on the stationary bike? Are you also guilty of watching TV or listening music through your headphone when you are on the treadmill? Yes, any exercise is better than no exercise and although you may burn some calories even when you are reading a book or watching TV when you exercise, it is not enough to lose weight. This is sheer common sense. The more intensive your exercise intensity, the more calories you will burn.



In other words, your cardio exercises must make you puff and pant to be at its most effective state in burning body fat. So if you can read a book or listen to music from your headphone, your exercise intensity level may not be high enough to burn enough body fat for you to lose weight. This is only a simple explanation and there are many scientific reasons to support the high intensity fat burning notion.




Cardio Exercise After Work - Rigorous cardiovascular exercises not only help you to burn excess fat, they also strengthen your heart and lungs and thus are of great importance in reducing potential fatal health risks such as high blood pressure, stroke, heart attacks and numerous other crippling ailments. Since your focus is to reduce body fat, you will also reap the other benefits as when you lose fat, the other health risks are also reduced correspondingly.



So, to get the maximum effect of reducing fat effectively, you should do your cardio exercises first thing in the morning. Of course, you can perform them after work or school since some form of exercisng is better than no exercise. But to get the maximum effect, you should do them first thing in the morning before breakfast.



Here is the reason why. Your body's first preference for energy is carbohydrate. Your body store carbs in the form of glycogen in your muscles and liver to protect you as a form of survival instinct, so that the energy that you need for your daily function need not come from your body parts such as your body fat and God forbid, your muscles. Now, since the last meal you had which include carbs were consumed 12-14 hours ago, your stored carbs will be almost depleted and thus when you do your cardio exercises in the morning before breakfast, guess what, without your stored glycogen to use as energy, your body will be burning your fat instead. What better way to lose weight than exercising in the morning?


Now, in contrast, if you exercise in the evening after work or after school, you would have consumed carbs for breakfast, lunch and perhaps even dinner. In that case, you will have to burn off those carbohydrates before you start burning away your body fat, wouldn't you? This is the reason why doctors always say that you have to exercise vigorously for 20 minutes before fat burning kicks in. The first 20 minutes is to burn carbs and then burn fat thereafter! Hey, now you know the shortcut to effective weight loss.



The above are just some of the many reasons why people fail at losing weight.

NATIONAL RECONCILIATION ORDINANCE

AN ORDINANCE to promote national reconciliation

WHEREAS it is expedient to promote national reconciliation, foster mutual trust and confidence amongst holders of public office and remove the vestiges of political vendetta and victimization, to make the election process more transparent and to amend certain laws for that purpose and for matters connected therewith and ancillary thereto;-

AND WHEREAS the National Assembly is not in session and the President is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action;

NOW, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 89 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the President is pleased to make and promulgate the following Ordinance;-

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1.	Short title and commencement. (1) This Ordinance may be called the National Reconciliation Ordinance, 2007. (2) It shall come into force at once.
2.	Amendment of section 494, Act V of 1898. In the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898), section 494 shall be renumbered as sub-section (1) thereof and after sub-section (1) renumbered as aforesaid, the following sub-section (2) and (3) shall be added, namely:- (2) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in sub-section(1), the Federal Government or a Provincial Government may, before the judgment is pronounced by a trial court, withdraw from the prosecution of any person including an absconding accused who is found to be falsely involved for political reasons or through political victimization in any case initiated between 1st day of January, 1986 to 12th day of October, 1999 and upon such withdrawal clause (a) and clause (b) of sub-section (1) shall apply. (3) For the purposes of exercise of powers under sub-section (2) the Federal Government and the Provincial Government may each constitute a Review Board to review the entire record of the case and furnish recommendations as to their withdrawal or otherwise. (4) The Review Board in case of Federal Government shall be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court with Attorney-General and Federal Law Secretary as its members and in case of Provincial Government it shall be headed by a retired judge of the High Court with Advocate-General and/or Prosecutor-General and Provincial Law Secretary as its members. (5) A review Board undertaking review of a case may direct the Public Prosecutor or any other concerned authority to furnish to it the record of the case.
3.	Amendment of section 39, Act LXXXV of 1976. (1) In the Representation of the People Act, 1976 (LXXXV of 1976), in section 39, after sub-section (6), the following new sub-section (7) shall be added, namely:- (7) After consolidation of results the Returning Officer shall give to such contesting candidates and their election agents as are present during the consolidation proceedings, a copy of the result of the count notified to the Commission immediately against proper receipt and shall also post a copy thereof to the other candidates and election agents.
4.	Amendment of section 18, Ordinance XVIII of 1999. In the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (XVIII of 1999), hereinafter referred to as the said Ordinance, in section 18, in clause (e), for the full stop at the end a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following proviso shall be added, namely:- Provided that no sitting member of Parliament or a Provincial Assembly shall be arrested without taking into consideration the recommendations of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Ethics referred to in clause (aa) or Special Committee of the Provincial Assembly on Ethics referred to in clause (aaa) of section 24, respectively.
5.	Amendment of section 24, Ordinance XVIII of 1999. In the said ordinance, in section 24,- (i) in clause (a) for the full stop at the end a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following proviso shall be inserted, namely.- Provided that no sitting member of Parliament or a Provincial Assembly shall be arrested without taking into consideration the recommendations of Special Parliamentary Committee on Ethics or Special Committee of the Provincial Assembly on Ethics referred to in clause (aa) and (aaa), respectively, before which the entire material and evidence shall be placed by the chairman, NAB. ; and (ii) after clause (a), amended as aforesaid, the following new clauses (aa) and (aaa) shall be inserted, namely;- (aa) The Special Parliamentary Committee on Ethics referred to in the proviso to clause (a) above shall consist of a chairman who shall be a member of either House of Parliament and eight members each from the National Assembly and Senate to be selected by the Speaker, National Assembly and Chairman Senate, respectively, on the recommendations of Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition of their respective Houses, with equal representation from both sides. (aaa) The Special Committee of the provincial Assembly on Ethics shall consist of a Chairman and eight members to be selected by the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly on the recommendation of Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition, with equal representation from both sides.
6.	Amendment of section 31A, Ordinance XVIII of 1999. In the said Ordinance, in section 31A, in clause (a), for the full stop at the end a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following new clause (aa) shall be inserted, namely:- (aa) An order or judgment passed by the Court in absentia against an accused is void ab initio and shall not be acted upon.
7.	Insertion of new section, Ordinance, XVIII of 1999. In the said Ordinance, after section 33, the following new section shall be inserted, namely:- 33A. Withdrawal and termination of prolonged pending proceedings initiated prior to 12th October, 1999. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Ordinance or any other law for the time being in force, proceedings under investigation or pending in any court including a High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan initiated by or on a reference by the National Accountability Bureau inside or outside Pakistan including proceedings continued under section 33, requests for mutual assistance and civil party to proceedings initiated by the Federal Government before the 12th day of October, 1999 against holders of public office stand withdrawn and terminated with immediate effect and such holders of public office shall also not be liable to any action in future as well under this Ordinance for acts having been done in good faith before the said date; Provided that those proceedings shall not be withdrawn and terminated which relate to cases registered in connection with the cooperative societies and other financial and investment companies or in which no appeal, revision or constitutional petition has been filed against final judgment and order of the Court or in which an appellate or revisional order or an order in constitutional petition has become final or in which voluntary return or plea bargain has been accepted by the Chairman, National Accountability Bureau under section 25 or recommendations of the Conciliation Committee have been accepted by the Governor, State bank of Pakistan under section 25A. (2) No action or claim by way of suit, prosecution, complaint or other civil or criminal proceeding shall lie against the Federal, Provincial or Local Government, the National Accountability Bureau or any of their officers and functionaries for any act or thing done or intended to be done in good faith pursuant to the withdrawal and termination of cases under sub-section (1) unless they have deliberately misused authority in violation of law.

Strategy for research and development

Research and development (R&D) needs to be carefully planned and managed to succeed. It is easy to waste money on developing ideas that go nowhere, but the rewards for getting it right can lead to business stability, security and long-term profits.

Planning

R&D included an overall business plan and set out clear objectives, time frames and budgets. The plan illustrates the direction we want the business to take and how R&D fits in with our other business activities.

A clear plan can prevent the project straying from our business goals and wasting valuable resources and money.

we involve staff with specific skills to draw up the plan, for example finance staff to set up budgets. Whey also engages outer sources to gain reliable information.

Our plan should set out the steps that need to be taken from the inception of the ideas to the product launch.

You should allocate the necessary resources to the project, including funding; we might decide to set up a specific team to work on the project.

Management

Good management is vital. This allows you to reduce the risk of failure and realize as many ideas as possible.

To manage R&D projects effectively we indulge:

· make sure staff involved in R&D understand the business' overall strategy

· ensure these employees understand what is commercially realistic

· assess the changing risks and potential of projects as they progress, continually developing a rigorous business case

· ensure that intellectual property ownership issues are resolved

· recognize when a project isn't going to work -

· understand the relative importance of different projects to your business

Commercial benefits of research and development

Sound research and development enables us to stay competitive and build customer loyalty. The products and services we develop help us to:

· boost sales

· increase your profitability

· open new markets -

· enhance our brand and gain a reputation as an innovative business

· attract the best employees through our enhanced reputation

· find new business partnerships

· attract external finance

By looking at the business processes that allow us to manufacture, market and sell your products or services, we can:

· reduce costs

· improve the quality of our offer

· get your product to market more quickly

Our research may also bring less tangible benefits - perhaps in the shape of knowledge about our market that may be useful to our business in future but doesn't have an immediate commercial application.

Make sure we protect any intellectual property we create through research, development and product design.

Remember - failing to devote enough resources to research and development could mean our business losing its competitive edge.

SCOPE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

The scope of international relations has greatly expanded in modern times. Initially international relations were concerned only with the study of diplomatic history. It concentrated on the study of contemporary foreign affairs with a view to draw certain lessons. Later on emphasis began to be laid on the study of international law and international relations began to be studied within the framework of international law. The field of the study of international relations was further widened with the establishment of the League of Nations after the First World War and the study of international organizations and institutions was also included within its purview.

The scope of international relations in the post World War II period got further widened due to significant changes which took place, viz., the emergence of USA and USSR as two superpowers; the entry of a large number of non-European states into the society of nations; the danger of thermo¬nuclear war; increasing interdependence of states and rising expectations of the people in the under developed world, etc. Greater emphasis began to be placed on scientific study of international relations, which led to development of new methodologies and introduction of new theories in the study of international relations.

KERRY LUGAR BILL

The Kerry-Lugar Bill: details and conditions

Saturday, September 26, 2009

News Desk

WASHINGTON: The following is the text of the Kerry-Lugar Bill passed by the Senate on Thursday, Sept 24, 2009. It will now go to the House of Representatives and if passed without amendments, will be sent to President Barack Obama for signing into law:

S.1707

Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009 (Engrossed as Agreed to or Passed by Senate)

SEC. 203. LIMITATIONS ON CERTAIN ASSISTANCE.

(a) Limitation on Security-related Assistance: For fiscal years 2011 through 2014, no security-related assistance may be provided to Pakistan in a fiscal year until the Secretary of State, under the direction of the President, makes the certification required under subsection (c) for such fiscal year.

(b) Limitation on Arms Transfers: For fiscal years 2012 through 2014, no letter of offer to sell major defence equipment to Pakistan may be issued pursuant to the Arms Export Control Act (22 USC 2751 et seq.) and no license to export major defence equipment to Pakistan may be issued pursuant to such Act in a fiscal year until the Secretary of State, under the direction of the President, makes the certification required under subsection (c) for such fiscal year.

(c) Certification: The certification required by this subsection is a certification by the Secretary of State, under the direction of the President, to the appropriate congressional committees that: (1) the Government of Pakistan is continuing to cooperate with the United States in efforts to dismantle supplier networks relating to the acquisition of nuclear weapons-related materials, such as providing relevant information from or direct access to Pakistani nationals associated with such networks;

(2) the Government of Pakistan during the preceding fiscal year has demonstrated a sustained commitment to and is making significant efforts towards combating terrorist groups, consistent with the purposes of assistance described in section 201, including taking into account the extent to which the Government of Pakistan has made progress on matters such as (A) ceasing support, including by any elements within the Pakistan military or its intelligence agency, to extremist and terrorist groups, particularly to any group that has conducted attacks against the United States or coalition forces in Afghanistan, or against the territory or people of neighbouring countries; (B) preventing al-Qaeda, the Taliban and associated terrorist groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, from operating in the territory of Pakistan, including carrying out cross-border attacks into neighbouring countries, closing terrorist camps in the Fata, dismantling terrorist bases of operations in other parts of the country, including Quetta and Muridke, and taking action when provided with intelligence about high-level terrorist targets; and (C) strengthening counterterrorism and anti-money laundering laws; and (3) the security forces of Pakistan are not materially and substantially subverting the political or judicial processes of Pakistan.

(d) Certain Payments: (1) IN GENERAL- Subject to paragraph (2), none of the funds appropriated for security-related assistance for fiscal years 2010 through 2014, or any amounts appropriated to the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund established under the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009 (Public Law 111-32), may be obligated or expended to make payments relating to (A) the Letter of Offer and Acceptance PK-D-YAD signed between the Governments of the United States of America and Pakistan on September 30, 2006; (B) the Letter of Offer and Acceptance PK-D-NAP signed between the Governments of the United States of America and Pakistan on September 30, 2006; and C) the Letter of Offer and Acceptance PK-D-SAF signed between the Governments of the United States of America and Pakistan on September 30, 2006.

(2) EXCEPTION: Funds appropriated for security-related assistance for fiscal years 2010 through 2014 may be used for construction and related activities carried out pursuant to the Letters of Offer and Acceptance described in paragraph (1).

(e) Waiver: (1) IN GENERAL - The Secretary of State, under the direction of the President, may waive the limitations contained in subsections (a), (b), and (d) for a fiscal year if the Secretary of State determines that is important to the national security interests of the United States to do so.

(2) PRIOR NOTICE OF WAIVER: The Secretary of State, under the direction of the President, may not exercise the authority of paragraph (1) until seven days after the Secretary of State provides to the appropriate congressional committees a written notice of the intent to issue to waiver and the reasons therefore. The notice may be submitted in classified or unclassified form, as necessary.

(f) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined: In this section, the term `appropriate congressional committees’ means (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives; and (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Armed Services, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.

SEC. 204. PAKISTAN COUNTERINSURGENCY CAPABILITY FUND.

(a) For Fiscal Year 2010: (1) IN GENERAL - For fiscal year 2010, the Department of State’s Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund established under the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009 (Public Law 111-32), hereinafter in this section referred to as the `Fund’, shall consist of the following: (A) Amounts appropriated to carry out this subsection (which may not include any amounts appropriated to carry out title I of this Act).

(B) Amounts otherwise available to the Secretary of State to carry out this subsection.

(2) PURPOSES OF FUND: Amounts in the Fund made available to carry out this subsection for any fiscal year are authorised to be used by the Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Secretary of Defence, to build and maintain the counterinsurgency capability of Pakistan under the same terms and conditions (except as otherwise provided in this subsection) that are applicable to amounts made available under the Fund for fiscal year 2009.

(3) TRANSFER AUTHORITY: (A) IN GENERAL - The Secretary of State is authorised to transfer amounts in the fund made available to carry out this subsection for any fiscal year to the Department of Defence’s Pakistan Counterinsurgency Fund established under the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009 (Public Law 111-32) and such amounts may be transferred back to the Fund if the Secretary of Defence, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, determines that such amounts are not needed for the purposes for which initially transferred.

(B) TREATMENT OF TRANSFERRED FUNDS: Subject to subsections (d) and (e) of section 203, transfers from the Fund under the authority of subparagraph (A) shall be merged with and be available for the same purposes and for the same time period as amounts in the Department of Defence’s Pakistan Counterinsurgency Fund.

(C) RELATION TO OTHER AUTHORITIES: The authority to provide assistance under this subsection is in addition to any other authority to provide assistance to foreign countries.

(D) NOTIFICATION: The Secretary of State shall, not less than 15 days prior to making transfers from the Fund under subparagraph (A), notify the appropriate congressional committees in writing of the details of any such transfer.

(b) Submission of Notifications: Any notification required by this section may be submitted in classified or unclassified form, as necessary.

(c) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined: In this section, the term `appropriate congressional committees’ means (1) the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; and (2) the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.

SEC. 205. REQUIREMENTS FOR CIVILIAN CONTROL OF CERTAIN ASSISTANCE

(a) Requirements: (1) IN GENERAL - For fiscal years 2010 through 2014, any direct cash security-related assistance or non-assistance payments by the United States to the Government of Pakistan may only be provided or made to civilian authorities of a civilian government of Pakistan.

(2) DOCUMENTATION: For fiscal years 2010 through 2014, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Defence, shall ensure that civilian authorities of a civilian government of Pakistan have received a copy of final documentation provided to the United States related to non-assistance payments provided or made to the Government of Pakistan.

(b) Waiver: 1) SECURITY-RELATED ASSISTANCE: The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defence, may waive the requirements of subsection (a) with respect to security-related assistance described in subsection (a) funded from accounts within budget function 150 (International Affairs) if the Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that the waiver is important to the national security interest of the United States.

(2) NON-ASSISTANCE PAYMENTS: The Secretary of Defence, in consultation with the Secretary of State, may waive the requirements of subsection (a) with respect to non-assistance payments described in subsection (a) funded from accounts within budget function 050 (National Defence) if the Secretary of Defense certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that the waiver is important to the national security interest of the United States.

(c) Application to Certain Activities- Nothing in this section shall apply with respect to (1) any activities subject to reporting requirements under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 413 et seq.); (2) any assistance to promote democratic elections or public participation in democratic processes; (3) any assistance or payments if the Secretary of State determines and certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that subsequent to the termination of assistance or payments a democratically elected government has taken office; (4) any assistance or payments made pursuant to section 1208 of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (Public Law 108-375; 118 Stat. 2086), as amended; (5) any payments made pursuant to the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement between the Department of Defense of the United States of America and the Ministry of Defense of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; and (6) any assistance or payments made pursuant to section 943 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Public Law 110-417; 122 Stat. 4578).

(d) Definitions- In this section (1) the term `appropriate congressional committees’ means the Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services, and Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services, and Foreign Relations of the Senate; and (2) the term ‘civilian government of Pakistan’ does not include any government of Pakistan whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup or decree.

TITLE III—STRATEGY, ACCOUNTABILITY, MONITORING, AND OTHER PROVISIONS SEC. 301. STRATEGY REPORTS.

(a) Pakistan Assistance Strategy Report- Not later than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report describing United States policy and strategy with respect to assistance to Pakistan under this Act. The report shall include the following: (1) A description of the principal objectives of United States assistance to Pakistan to be provided under title I of this Act.

(2) A general description of the specific programs, projects, and activities designed to achieve the purposes of section 101 and the respective funding levels for such programs, projects, and activities for fiscal years 2010 through 2014.

(3) A plan for program monitoring, operations research, and impact evaluation research for assistance authorized under title I of this Act.

(4) A description of the role to be played by Pakistani national, regional, and local officials and members of Pakistani civil society and local private sector, civic, religious, and tribal leaders in helping to identify and implement programs and projects for which assistance is to be provided under this Act, and of consultations with such representatives in developing the strategy.

(5) A description of the steps taken, or to be taken, to ensure assistance provided under this Act is not awarded to individuals or entities affiliated with terrorist organizations.

(6) A projection of the levels of assistance to be provided to Pakistan under this Act, broken down into the following categories as described in the annual `Report on the Criteria and Methodology for Determining the Eligibility of Candidate Countries for Millennium Challenge Account Assistance’: (A) Civil liberties. (B) Political rights. (C) Voice and accountability. (D) Government effectiveness. (E) Rule of law. (F) Control of corruption. (G) Immunization rates. (H) Public expenditure on health. (I) Girls’ primary education completion rate. (J) Public expenditure on primary education. (K) Natural resource management. (L) Business start-up. (M) Land rights and access. (N) Trade policy. (O) Regulatory quality. (P) Inflation control. (Q) Fiscal policy.

(7) An analysis for the suitable replacement for existing Pakistani helicopters, including recommendations for sustainment and training.

(b) Comprehensive Regional Strategy Report: (1) SENSE OF CONGRESS: It is the sense of Congress that the achievement of United States national security goals to eliminate terrorist threats and close safe havens in Pakistan requires the development of a comprehensive plan that utilizes all elements of national power, including in coordination and cooperation with other concerned governments, and that it is critical to Pakistan’s long-term prosperity and security to strengthen regional relationships among India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

(2) COMPREHENSIVE REGIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY: The President shall develop a comprehensive interagency regional security strategy to eliminate terrorist threats and close safe havens in Pakistan, including by working with the Government of Pakistan and other relevant governments and organizations in the region and elsewhere, as appropriate, to best implement effective counterinsurgency and counterterrorism efforts in and near the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, including the FATA, the NWFP, parts of Balochistan, and parts of Punjab.

(3) REPORT: (A) IN GENERAL- Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the comprehensive regional security strategy required under paragraph (2).

(B) CONTENTS- The report shall include a copy of the comprehensive regional security strategy, including specifications of goals, and proposed timelines and budgets for implementation of the strategy.

(C) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED: In this paragraph, the term `appropriate congressional committees’ means (i) the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives; and (ii) the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.

(c) Security-related Assistance Plan- Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a plan for the proposed use of amounts authorized for security-related assistance for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014. Such plan shall include an assessment of how the use of such amounts complements or otherwise is related to amounts described in section 204.

SEC. 302. MONITORING REPORTS.

(a) Semi-Annual Monitoring Report- Not later than 180 days after the submission of the Pakistan Assistance Strategy Report pursuant to section 301(a), and every 180 days thereafter through September 30, 2014, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that describes the assistance provided under this Act during the preceding 180-day period. The report shall include—

(1) a description of all assistance by program, project, and activity, as well as by geographic area, provided pursuant to title I of this Act during the period covered by the report, including the amount of assistance provided for each program or project, and with respect to the first report a description of all amounts made available for assistance to Pakistan during fiscal year 2009, including a description of each program, project, and activity for which funds were made available; (2) a list of persons or entities from the United States or other countries that have received funds in excess of $100,000 to conduct projects under title I of this Act during the period covered by the report, which may be included in a classified annex, if necessary to avoid a security risk, and a justification for the classification; (3) with respect to the plan described in section 301(a)(3), updates to such plan and a description of best practices to improve the impact of the assistance authorized under title I of this Act; (4) an assessment of the effectiveness of assistance provided under title I of this Act during the period covered by the report in achieving desired objectives and outcomes as guided by the plan described in section 301(a)(3), and as updated pursuant to paragraph (3) of this subsection, including a systematic, qualitative, and where possible, quantitative basis for assessing whether desired outcomes are achieved and a timeline for completion of each project and program; (5) a description of any shortfall in United States financial, physical, technical, or human resources that hinder the effective use and monitoring of such funds; (6) a description of any negative impact, including the absorptive capacity of the region for which the resources are intended, of United States bilateral or multilateral assistance and recommendations for modification of funding, if any; (7) any incidents or reports of waste, fraud, and abuse of expenditures under title I of this Act; (8) the amount of funds authorized to be appropriated pursuant to section 102 that were used during the reporting period for administrative expenses or for audits and program reviews pursuant to the authority under sections 101(c)(2) and 103; (9) a description of the expenditures made from any Chief of Mission Fund established pursuant to section 101(c)(5) during the period covered by the report, the purposes for which such expenditures were made, and a list of the recipients of any expenditures from the Chief of Mission Fund in excess of $100,000; (10) an accounting of assistance provided to Pakistan under title I of this Act, broken down into the categories set forth in section 301(a)(6); (11) an evaluation of efforts undertaken by the Government of Pakistan to (A) disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other extremist and terrorist groups in the FATA and settled areas; (B) eliminate the safe havens of such forces in Pakistan; (C) close terrorist camps, including those of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed; (D) cease all support for extremist and terrorist groups; (E) prevent attacks into neighbouring countries; (F) increase oversight over curriculum in Madrassas, including closing Madrassas with direct links to the Taliban or other extremist and terrorist groups; and (G) improve counterterrorism financing and anti-money laundering laws, apply for observer status for the Financial Action Task Force, and take steps to adhere to the United Nations International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism; (12) a detailed description of Pakistan’s efforts to prevent proliferation of nuclear-related material and expertise; (13) an assessment of whether assistance provided to Pakistan has directly or indirectly aided the expansion of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, whether by the diversion of United States assistance or the reallocation of Pakistan’s financial resources that would otherwise be spent for programs and activities unrelated to its nuclear weapons program; (14) a detailed description of the extent to which funds obligated and expended pursuant to section 202(b) meet the requirements of such section; and (15) an assessment of the extent to which the Government of Pakistan exercises effective civilian control of the military, including a description of the extent to which civilian executive leaders and parliament exercise oversight and approval of military budgets, the chain of command, the process of promotion for senior military leaders, civilian involvement in strategic guidance and planning, and military involvement in civil administration.

(b) Government Accountability Office Reports:

(1) PAKISTAN ASSISTANCE STRATEGY REPORT: Not later than one year after the submission of the Pakistan Assistance Strategy Report pursuant to section 301(a), the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that contains (A) a review of, and comments addressing, the Pakistan Assistance Strategy Report; (B) recommendations relating to any additional actions the Comptroller General believes could help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of United States efforts to meet the objectives of this Act; (C) a detailed description of the expenditures made by Pakistan pursuant to grant assistance under section 23 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 USC.

Internet Marketing-Opportunities and Challenges

The growth of international markets and the accelerated progress in the internet technologies has brought revolutionary changes in almost all fields of life. Being precise and specific to the field of marketing, a great part of which has been transferred to the World Wide Web, making it a separate field known as internet marketing or e-marketing. The developments in the technologies have had great impact on the divergent nature of the field. The ultimate outcome of this development is certainly a great deal of benefits. But these benefits are subjected to some limitations and challenges as well.

Having a glimpse of benefits, the availability of information at widespread networks is the major advantage of the time. The user friendly systems available at web sites letting consumers overview and purchase goods and services while being at distance certainly saves money. On the other hand it reduces the companies’ distribution cost. One prominent feature of internet marketing is the expansion of global markets as it provides with a wide range of network that can be covered within a limited time. It also levels the ground for players. While being the most cost effective medium of marketing, as compared to other mediums like TV and news paper etc it is much easier to track than that of traditional "offline" media as it gives a great deal of accountability to the advertisers.

With reference to the popularity, the field of internet marketing is growing at much faster rate than that of others. And the reason behind this accelerated growth is the win/win situation in the market. This phenomenon exists in almost all ranges, i.e. from a big established advertising concern to the monetization of small blog or website.

Though having so many benefits, internet marketing faces some challenges in the form of some limitations and some security reasons. With reference to these challenges, the very first limitation is the slow internet connections at some ends which can cause difficulties both for the users and for the companies. Further Internet marketing does not allow shoppers to touch, smell, taste or try-on tangible goods before making an online purchase, which may have some problem at users’ end. Some vendors do have liberal return policies to reassure customers, but the rate of fraud may vary in different situations. And one important factor in the same context is the development of the methods of payment. Though a lot of development has been done in this regard, i.e. e-checks, credit cards, visa card shopping etc, but with the increase in the markets, there’s the need of increase in the availability of the methods of payments as well.

The most important issue in e marketing is the security, which is of utmost importance both for buyers and sellers. A number of customers is hesitant to buy online, just because of the security reason and the disclosure of personal information. Security concerns of important debate for the companies working at providing solutions. One important achievement in this regard is Encryption, which deals with the privacy concerns. Encryption is actually the transformation of data into a form called a cipher which cannot be easily intercepted by an unauthorized individual. The stronger chipper provides the maximum protection but the drawback is that the stronger the chipper is the more expensive it becomes.

Though a list of challenges is there for the field of e-marketing to face, a number of companies and individuals are on the go to explore every avenue to make it perfect.

What an Employer is Looking in You?

The present corporate culture and the growth of industries brought some revolutionary changes in the work description and thus the appearance of jobs also took evolutionary stages. This has resulted in totally different trends in the job specifications. Employers are seeking individuals with maximum capabilities to handle the physical and behavioral work elements. Thus the contemporary job culture requires some specific traits and qualities in candidate. These qualities and traits may vary in accordance with the job specifications in different sectors, but in general these are same. They may be as follows:

• Professional attitude
• Willingness to work and learn
• Interest in the field
• Interest in the company
• Reasonable attitude towards the compensation
• Integrity and sincerity
• Confidence
• Determination
• Appearance
• Expression power
• Organization and Management
• Experience
• Responsiveness
• Force of drive
• Sensitivity
• Balanced personality
• Good communication skills
• Initiative
  

Not everyone possesses all these traits, but some of them. It is, however, none too difficult to develop these traits through some external force, i.e. making and effort yourself. The more skills and traits you have the more chances of success are there for you.

The organizations actually look for their productivity first, and the traits mentioned above all result in the organizational productivity. That is what the reason organizations look for these traits in a single individual. By developing all these traits in you, you are not only letting the organization grow great guns but also develop the horizons of excellence for yourself. Having these traits developed in you, your skills get polished and your professional profile gets a boost.

The point to ponder in this regard is that how to develop these characteristics within yourself. This development is just a few steps away from you. Keep an Argus eye on surroundings, be updated with the latest trends in your field, keep on reviewing the industry of your concern, take good car of your health, keep alternative plans with you, respect the others’ views, explore new opportunities of learning, develop yourself to face all sort of challenges. By doing a little effort in this way you can become one employers looking for, so why not to give it a try.

Terrorism

The history of terrorism is very old. The first known act of terrorism was held about 2,000 years ago, perpetrated by a radical offshoot of the Zealots, a Jewish sect active in Judea during the 1st century ad. The Zealots resisted the Roman Empire\’s rule of what is today Israel through a determined campaign primarily involving assassination. Zealot fighters used the ’sica’, a primitive dagger, to attack their enemies in broad daylight, often in crowded market places or on feast days essentially wherever there were people to witness the violence. But the word terrorism was first used in France to describe a new system of government adopted during the French Revolution.

The word, however, did not gain wider popularity until the late 19th century when it was adopted by a group of Russian revolutionaries to describe their violent struggle against tsarist rule, and now this term has gained a terrific popularity. The term ‘Terrorism’ may be defined as a deliberate intent along with prior planning and involves the killing of innocent people. Or it is a deliberate creation and exploitation of fear for bringing about political change. It includes murders, killings, kidnapping, hijacking, bomb blasts and other activities creating violence or threatening to create violence.

Terrorism has occurred throughout history for a variety of reasons. Its causes can be historical, cultural, political, social, psychological, economic, or religious or any combination of these. In broad terms the causes that have commonly compelled people to engage in terrorism are grievances borne of political oppression, cultural domination, economic exploitation, ethnic discrimination, and religious persecution, perceived inequities in the distribution of wealth and political power.

The act of terrorism can be grouped into three categories; Individual’s act, group’s pursuit and state policy. Individual’s act is invariable the product of injustices, frustrations or denial of legitimate rights etc. A group’s attack is often the outcome of carefully calculated strategies, it may be aimed to highlight a particular point or gimmick people’s attention towards a particular demand of the group. The third one is state’s policy which is sometimes termed as ‘State Terrorism’. One thing which is common in all three categories is that, all terrorist acts involve violence or equally important the threat of violence.

The individual act of terrorism is mostly observed within a local area, while the group pursuit and the state policy acts of terrorism have broad area of influence, i.e. national and international level. Group terrorist attacks have some characteristics in common. First of all they never commit an attack randomly or senselessly. The act of terrorism is carefully planned; even some acts take decades to get planned. This planning includes collection of list of activities of the victim, patterns of daily activities, communication systems, bomb makers, specialists to ensure strategies, mapping of escaping routes, safe houses etc. another common characteristic is secrecy. For this purpose terrorists follow the narrowed pyramid organizational structure, according to which senior command structure and leadership lies at the top.


The most important aspect of terrorist attacks is the ‘target’. Most of the time innocent citizens are the victims of these attacks. Terrorists target innocent citizens to create fear. By generating such an atmosphere of fear they claim ‘power’. Sometimes, some specific people like government officials, business men, transport and vehicle facilities (air craft or train), building etc are also the victims of terrorist attacks. Second type of victims is targeted to draw more attention, some times this type of victims are freed after negotiations but many times the attack results as killings. The most common examples of these ilk of terrorist attacks are attacks of 9/11, hijacking of the air-craft of Indian Airlines in 1999, demolition of Babri Masjid, a recent bomb blast in Nishtar Park.

Terrorists’ attacks not only sow panic but also undermine confidence in the government and political leadership of their target. Terrorism is therefore designed to have psychological effects that reach far beyond its impact on the immediate victims or object of an attack. Terrorism is by nature political because it involves the acquisition and use of power for the purpose of forcing others to submit, or agree, to terrorist demands. A terrorist attack, by generating publicity and focusing attention on the organization behind the attack, is designed to create this power.

Now comes the ‘state terrorism’, as I mentioned earlier that, it is state’s policy which is sometimes known as state terrorism. This type of terrorism is used a s a tool to maintain a country/ state’s influence on a particular area. Well known examples in this regard are the Indian occupation on Kashmir and Israel’s policy for Philistine. In both the cases hundred thousands of people have been killed, women have been raped, the basic rights of the natives have been denied. Regarding state terrorism we can’t forget US policy for Afghanistan and Iraq. But in case of Afghanistan and Iraq, the objective of the act is a little different, i.e. the natural resources found in these regions. Well whatever the objective is, it killed innocent people, so it is terrorism.


How to stop terrorism? The most crucial question, many attempts have been made through out the world to lessen the acts of terrorism, but its increasing day by day. New techniques and innovations are being brought in action. Terrorism has existed for at least 2,000 years and is likely to remain a fixture on political agendas, both domestic and international, for years to come. Terrorism provides a means by which the weak can confront much stronger opponents. It therefore has an enduring appeal to the alienated and the disenfranchised, the aggrieved and vengeful, the powerless and the would-be powerful. In addition, it is relatively inexpensive to conduct while offering a vast potential payoff: the ability to evoke fear and alarm and inflict pain and suffering in the hope of compelling agreement to demands made.

Concisely, terrorism is evolving constantly to overcome governmental countermeasures designed to defeat it. It also involves an ongoing search for new targets and unidentified vulnerabilities in its opponents. This quest also raises the possibility that terrorists may pursue unconventional means of attack, such as chemical, biological, or radiological weapons, or nuclear weapons. The latest terrorist tactics include cyber-terrorism, using computers to destroy computer networks or systems, in future it may be electronic warfare that targets critical infrastructure, such as communications and power facilities, or societies in general.

Throughout the world, terrorism reinvents itself in new and more dangerous forms. As older groups are defeated or exhausted, more radical and more violent successors often take their place. Although terrorism likely can never be completely eradicated, countering its threat requires continuing vigilance. The highly individual nature of terrorism’s causes, the diversity of its perpetrators, and the complexity of its fundamental characteristics present enormous challenges to those who must effectively counter this menace.

Why people resisit to change

Resistance to change is the action taken by individuals and groups when they perceive that a change that is occurring as a threat to them. Key words here are 'perceive' and 'threat'. The threat need not be real or large for resistance to occur. In its usual description it refers to change within organizations, although it also is found elsewhere in other forms. Resistance is the equivalent of objections in sales and disagreement in general discussions. Resistance may take many forms, including active or passive, overt or covert, individual or organized, aggressive or timid.

No matter whether a change is of major proportions or is objectively rather small, the change manager must anticipate that people in the organization are going to find reasons to resist changes. It is a basic tenet of human behavior that any belief or value that has been previously successful in meeting needs will resist change. This applies even if there are better more successful alternatives to meet those needs.

Resistance to change takes many forms. The more obvious forms consist of active resistance, where people will object, or refuse to cooperate with the change. Other, more subtle forms of resistance, however, are more difficult to deal with. Some examples of "resistive symptoms" include:

1. At a staff meeting everyone agrees to utilize a new procedure, but several weeks later you discover that the procedure has not been implemented.
2. New computers are introduced into the workplace. While all staff insisted that they have their own machines, virtually nobody is using them for the purpose for which they were intended.
3. A change in job responsibilities takes place for an employee. The employee consents to the change by saying: "You're the boss, and if that's what you want..." Later the employee only changes what he is doing enough to appear cooperative, but is in fact doing most things the way he was before the change.

It is very important that the change manager anticipate, and plan strategies for dealing with resistance. This applies not only at the introduction of the change, but there must be follow-through, so that the change manager monitors the change over the long-term, being alert for difficulties as the appear.

It is helpful to have an understanding of why people resist change, because understanding this allows us to plan strategies to reduce resistance from the beginning. Also, some of the reasons that people resist change do not seem to make sense to the casual observer. At times they can seem nonsensical and illogical. They are, nonetheless, important.

SOME REASONS WHY PEOPLE RESENT OR RESIST CHANGE: 1

1. One major reason why people resist change is the potential for loss on a personal level. Note that objectively there may be little threat, but people may act as if there is one.

Some of the things people feel are at risk during change processes are:

SECURITY
FRIENDS AND CONTACTS
MONEY
FREEDOM
PRIDE AND SATISFACTION
RESPONSIBILITY
AUTHORITY
GOOD WORKING CONDITIONS
STATUS

You probably will have noted that many of the above bear a very close resemblance to the model of human needs discussed earlier. The general principle is that whenever a change is perceived as creating some threat to the employee having his/her needs met the more likely resistance will occur.

2. OTHER REASONS FOR RESISTING CHANGE:

While a feeling of threat is a primary reason why people resist change, there are other factors that can mobilize people into resisting any changes from a status quo. These include:

CHANGE NOT NEEDED - STATUS QUO IS WORKING FINE
PROPOSED CHANGE DOES MORE HARM THAN GOOD
LACK OF RESPECT FOR PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CHANGE OBJECTIONABLE WAY OF IMPLEMENTING THE CHANGE
NEGATIVE ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE ORGANIZATION BEFORE THE CHANGE NO OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE INPUT INTO CHANGE PERCEIVED AS IMPLYING PERSONAL CRITICISM CHANGE SIMPLY ADDS MORE WORK AND CONFUSION. CHANGE REQUIRES MORE EFFORT THAN TO KEEP STATUS QUO BAD TIMING OF THE CHANGE
A DESIRE TO CHALLENGE AUTHORITY HEARING ABOUT THE CHANGE SECONDHAND

3. THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE

The Uncertainty principle states that when people are faced with ambiguous or uncertain situations, where they feel they do not know what to expect, they will resist moving into those situations. In other words, if people don't know what is to come, they get antsy, and resistive.

SUMMARY:

If you have read the above, and feel a bit overwhelmed by the many reasons people resist change, keep in mind that most if not all of these issues can be resolved for people through an effective change implementation strategy... Lest we become too negative let's take a quick look at the kinds of factors that help people accept or welcome change.

WHY PEOPLE ACCEPT OR WELCOME CHANGE

While you are likely to encounter people who resist change for the previously stated reasons, you will also encounter people who accept or welcome change. By knowing why people might accept or welcome change you will be better able to formulate a communication plan to foster acceptance.

1. PERSONAL GAIN

People will be more likely to accept change when they see the possibility that they will gain in some of the following areas:

INCREASED SECURITY
MONEY
MORE AUTHORITY
STATUS/PRESTIGE
BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS
SELF-SATISFACTION
BETTER PERSONAL CONTACTS
LESS TIME AND EFFORT

2. OTHER FACTORS:

PROVIDES A NEW CHALLENGE
LIKES/RESPECTS THE SOURCE
LIKES THE WAY CHANGE IS BEING COMMUNICATED REDUCES BOREDOM
PROVIDES OPPORTUNITY FOR INPUT IMPROVES FUTURE
PERCEPTION THAT THE CHANGE IS NECESSARY

To conclude, the main role of the change manager is to work towards reducing the resistance towards change, and increasing the enthusiasm and level of commitment for the change. In general, most people will have mixed reactions towards proposed change, so the change agent can be helpful in highlighting the positive aspects in a realistic manner.

3. OPENING MINDS, WINNING HEARTS.
Too often what you hear from the leaders is quite different from the real thing. Likewise, what you read in management literature and corporate journals are often "publicity stunts" to depict a good image of organizations. The problem of listening to leaders and reading about what they say about successful change is that many do not practice what they preach.

However, there is a small group of leaders who practice what they preach and have truly achieved success in the change that they have embarked on in their organizations. I know them and believe what they say because I see what they are saying being put to action when I visit their organizations.

After discussing with these leaders and having worked in many organizations both as a practitioner as well as a consultant, I am more convinced now than ever that the new role of leaders today is to open minds and win the hearts of people in order to achieve successful change.

The fact that many face tremendous difficulties in implementing change in their organizations is a clear indication that leaders are still very much in the dark about the right way to win over people in accepting change.

The following model developed by KL Strategic Change Consulting (KLSCC) has proven effective in the implementation of change in organizations.

OPENING MINDS

Too often, leaders try to change the minds of others through a forceful approach. They attempt to get people to change by talking at people and, some, barking at people. They focus more on getting people to near what they are saying. However, people can hear what they say but are not listening as long as their minds remain closed. The critical task of the leader is to first open the minds of people before he sell his massage of change. To open the minds of people, the leader must first break down their complacency levels. To reduce the complacency level of people, leaders need to communicate a compelling message for change.

They can do this through benchmarking and by comparing their level of achievements with competition. Leaders can highlight the weakness within organizations and the threats they face in the industry. A leader can reduce the complacency level of individuals by getting them to look outward instead inward. By this, I mean assessing changes in the environment such as the increasing intensity of competition, more demanding customers, deregulation and globalization, and by highlighting the impact of these changes on the future of the companies. Independent studies or survey by external parties will be good source of material to get the attention of people within organization to see the urgency for change.

Another way to open the minds of people is to develop a conductive environment in organization whereby people are allowed to question past assumptions. There may be assumptions which are no longer valid which leaders should take steps to abandon. By getting people to have an open mind is a good way to prevent them from developing blind spots.

Leaders need to help people become aware of the reality of situations to breakdown rigid attitudes and old habit which are hampering change. Keeping people's minds open requires constant assessment of the need for change and communicating this need in a convincing and acceptable manner to those who need to implement the necessary changes to improve performance in the workplace.

WINNING HEARTS

While opening minds is about appealing to sound reasons, wining hearts is appealing to emotions. The famous Professor William James said: "The deepest principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated." Everywhere in organizations, I run into this unarticulated and unfulfilled need. The need of people to be appreciated serves as one powerful motivation for change. One powerful way we can start to appreciating people is by recognizing the importance of their knowing what is going on around them. By genuinely communicating early to them about the rationale and the purpose of the change we will win more hearts than by justifying why change was not communicated.

This process of creating awareness of change should therefore rightfully begin by emphasizing the importance people place on the need to know and understand why change is being undertaken. Having done that, leaders must "sell" the benefits of the change to the people. People who do not "buy" the change are the ones who will resist it. Selling the change is about getting people excited about wanting to change.

Leaders who want to implement successful change must learn the skills of presenting change in an interesting and positive manner. Too often leaders themselves look at the negative side of change themselves and are overwhelmed by the difficulties. People will change when they see the change as positive and beneficial. The role of the leaders is to make change attractive, interesting, meaningful, friendly and beneficial.

Similarly a salesman who wants to sell his products or services will make the sales transaction pleasant. He will convince you of the attractive feature of his products and his benefits it will bring you. He will get you excited, willing to buy and hence put in your money.

Likewise getting people to change is getting people wanting and accepting it through your influencing power of selling. Winning hearts is also about establishing credibility. No one will be won over when leaders are not viewed as being credible. Leadership credibility calls for consistency, fairness, transparency and competency.

To win people's hearts, leaders must be sincere in their efforts they take towards change. They need to practice what they preach and deliver what they promise. They need to respect individuals and at the same time build teams which are committed to common goals and purpose. And winning commitment is the ultimate fruit of winning the hearts of people.

ENABLING ACTIONS

There are four key reasons why people do not change. First, they do not know what they are supposed to do. Second, they do not know how to do it. Third, they do not know why they should do it. Fourth, there are obstacles beyond their control.

Let us address the role of leaders in tackling each of these reasons to enable people to make change happen. For those who do not know what they are supposed to do, the leader’s role is to ensure communication is effective. Leaders need to communicate effectively what needs to be changed. The objectives, rationale and benefits of the change should be clearly and convincingly communicated. Should there be a breakdown in communication, leaders must identify the root cause and correct the situation right away. Sometimes information is communicated in bits and pieces and people down the line are confused. At other times, information may be stuck at certain levels and thus are not communicated downwards. Information that is not timely and accurately communicated will hinder change because people will not know what they are supposed to do.

For those who do not know how to change, leaders must provide the knowledge and skills to ensure that people have the confidence and competency to implement the change desired. The learning process can be done in a formal or informal process. Sharing information, knowledge and experience is an effective way to build competency in people. Coaching, formal training and team learning are also good way to increase the knowledge and skill levels of people. And of course, leaders should encourage staff to undertake self-learning, self-education and self-discovery on a continuous basis which I believe is still the most effective way to increase one’s knowledge and skills.

For those who do not know why they should change, leaders should start by opening minds and winning hearts towards change.

For those who face obstacles which are beyond their control, leaders must help to remove them.

Of course, there are some people who tend to perceive every challenge as an obstacle. Good leaders must know how to differentiate them. They must only help remove obstacles that are beyond their staff’s control. For those within their control, they must encourage their staff to remove them by themselves. For example, an obstacle such as frequent computer downtime which is due to the network system is not within the control of the frontline staff. The manager should address this issue with the Information Technology people in the regional office or head office and help solve this problem. While waiting for the head office to resolve the problem, the manager should in the meantime address the problems-created by the computer downtime to lessen the queue and discomfort at the branch. He should provide all the necessary support and encouragement to help smoothening things out until the computer is up again.

To enable change to happen, leaders must also mobilize the necessary resources and empower people to take action. The role of leaders is to negotiate and secure the necessary tools, equipment, manpower, materials and budget to enable the change to take place in their division or unit. Leaders must also ensure that people have the necessary authority to carry out their jobs effectively.

REWARDING ACHIEVEMENTS

It is the natural law of the universe that whatever we sow we will reap. Leaders in organizations must realize that they cannot violate this universal law for long. If people do not get recognized or rewarded for their achievements by their companies, some other organizations will reward them.

Valuing people and their contribution will go along way towards motivating people to want to change and achieve more for themselves as well as for their organizations. Leaders who care for people and show genuine concern for people will win their respect and commitment. People do not care how much a leader knows until they know how much he cares.

In total, achieving success in change is about opening minds, winning hearts, enabling people and rewarding them. Leaders who take the time and effort to develop these skills will be handsomely rewarded with positive and productive results. Those who do not will continue to be disappointed with the failure of their people to change and improve

Our Perception towards Change.

I wonder how many kind of perception towards change there are.

For one, I’m quite certain the kind of perception that our aunts and uncles have towards change.
“Wow! You’ve grown taller since the last I saw you”. Like duh. It’s not as if we would grow shorter right? But relatives embrace the change of their loved ones. Watching their nieces, nephews etc grow seems to get them all excited.

But what about us? The ones who are actually experiencing the growth. The change.

Remember the last time you saw your best friend or just one of your acquaintance. Were they the same as before? And how to do feel about that?

And can we really handle it? The change I mean.

Is it fear of the unknown that sometimes pull us back? The unfamiliar that seems to be casting a shadow of doubt around our confidence?

The future and its indefinable promises would sometimes make us think twice, thrice or even a thousand times over our decisions. Yet, time ticks on. And when the time comes, decision must be made. It is the first step to change.

But what if the decision we make brings us to a realization that we had made the wrong decision. The wrong step. Is it worth regretting for? Or is it fate that brings us to make that decision which we thought was a mistake but it turns out, it was not a mistake at all but, a lesson in life.

Truthfully, it is quite difficult to define change and establish some kind of law or rules on how to deal with it. Different people have different ways to deal with change because all of us have different perception towards it.

Some people are fearful to even be 20 yrs of age. But others cannot wait to reach 30. Get it?

Personally, for me, it takes time for me to embrace change. To leave my old habits and move on is one of the skills that I have not mastered yet. It breaks my heart to let go. And it scares me to move on. Simply said, it is fear of the unfamiliar. But in the end I know that I have to face and deal with it. One step at a time and I will learn to accept it eventually.

I guess we should try and view changes as challenges. Challenges to test out new found capabilities and abilities. Just like academic tests, there are, I guess, “Life Tests” as well. And when we have overcome that change, that challenge, it is just logical to anticipate another change, another challenge.

So yea, that’s what I think. What about you?